'Somebody' a dramatically flat story of rejected romance remorse
“Somebody I Used to Know” - ★ ★
I really wanted to like the indie rom-com “Somebody I Used to Know,” but the longer its freight train of dramatically flat, passionless, episodic scenes lasted, the less invested I became in the main character and her bad case of rejected romance remorse.
Of the cast members, Kiersey Clemons musters the most screen charisma, rendering her character Cassidy with sufficient spunk and spark to earn our empathy.
Meanwhile, her co-stars offer up a spectrum of mannered, unconnected performances, not so much sharing realistically spontaneous conversations as much as lobbing well-practiced lines at each other.
It doesn't help that they are working with overly articulated dialogue (from married screenwriters, star Alison Brie and director Dave Franco) that spells out their every emotion and every thought, leaving precious little of the characters for audiences to discover on their own.
Brian Lannin's conservative cinematography projects the clean and well-lighted look of what used to be called a made-for-TV movie, this one offering the awkward premise that middle-aged couples demonstrating ultra-healthy libidos make for gross hilarity.
Brie stars as Ally, a single, workaholic producer of reality TV shows who uses some unexpected downtime to return to her small hometown where she can recharge her creative batteries.
She gets something else recharged as well: her interest in her handsome ex-boyfriend Sean (Jay Ellis).
He's still single, but not for long.
Ally's brief optimistic bubble of rekindled romance gets rudely popped by the news that Sean will soon marry his new girlfriend, Cassidy, a warm and affable free spirit who reminds Ally of the person she used to be, before she became a driven, career-first TV production cog.
Before you can say “My Best Friend's Wedding,” Ally resolves to win back the man she left behind by quietly undermining his relationship with Cassidy.
How difficult can that be? She has a history with Sean. But Ally's plan to publicly humiliate Cassidy backfires when Ally presses her to stage an impromptu vocal performance at a party, certain that Cassidy will fold under the pressure.
Instead, she soars. This competition is on.
Franco has said in interviews that he and Brie took inspiration from '80s and '90s romantic comedies for “Somebody I Used to Know,” but not this level of casual nudity practiced by Brie's character, which goes from joyously liberating to bluntly clinical.
Perhaps Danny Pudi's character Benny, a family friend, summarized it best when he says to Ally, “This has gone way too far!”
The supporting cast members in “Somebody I Used to Know” do what they can to provide their characters with depth and personality. They include Julie Hagerty as Ally's mom Libby, Amy Sedaris as the fun-loving Deedee, Olga Merediz as Sean's concerned mom JoJo, and Haley Joel Osment as Sean's friend Jeremy.
He's somebody we used to know, as the young star of M. Night Shyamalan's “The Sixth Sense.”
Starring: Alison Brie, Jay Ellis, Kiersey Clemons, Danny Pudi, Haley Joel Osment, Julie Hagerty, Amy Sedaris
Directed by: Dave Franco
Other: A Prime Video streaming release. Rated R for language, nudity. 106 minutes